Paolo Banchero vs. Larry Bird Season by Season Comparison

Side by side comparison of each NBA season of Larry Bird and Paolo Banchero, from their rookie seasons to their last year played, in chronological order with awards, stats, championships and playoff performance of their teams every year.

Who had the better rookie season? Who had best stats in their 10th season? Who won a championship first? These questions and many others, are answered here.

Paolo Banchero played 3 years in the NBA, 10 less than Larry Bird, who played 13. Paolo Banchero had the first of his seasons in 2022-23, while Larry Bird had his rookie season in 1979-80. With that starting point, here you can take a look at each of their seasons side by side and compare how their careers evolved in achievements, awards and championships won, the stats they recorded both in the Regular Season and the Playoffs and how their teams performed in the postseason.

Rookie Season
	Paolo Banchero	Larry Bird
Season	2022-23	1979-80
Team	Orlando Magic	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	Rookie of the Year	Rookie of the Year
	All-Rookie First Team	All-Rookie First Team
	-	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Did Not Play	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals

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Rookie Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	72	33.8	20.0	1.2	5.7	6.9	3.7	0.8	0.5	2.8	2.2	6.7	15.6	.427	1.2	4.0	.298	5.5	7.4	.738
difference:	+10	+2.2	+1.3	+1.4	+2.1	+3.5	+0.8	+0.9	+0.1	-0.4	-1.2	+1.8	+2.2	+.047	+0.5	+2.3	+.108	+1.8	+3.0	+.098
Larry Bird	82	36.0	21.3	2.6	7.8	10.4	4.5	1.7	0.6	3.2	3.4	8.5	17.8	.474	0.7	1.7	.406	3.7	4.4	.836
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	DNP	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Larry Bird	9	41.3	21.3	2.4	8.8	11.2	4.7	1.6	0.9	3.7	3.3	9.2	19.7	.469	0.4	1.7	.267	2.4	2.8	.880

Season 2
	Paolo Banchero	Larry Bird
Season	2023-24	1980-81
Team	Orlando Magic	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	All-Star Game	All-Star Game
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	NBA Champion

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2nd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	80	35.0	22.6	1.0	5.9	6.9	5.4	0.9	0.6	3.1	1.9	8.0	17.6	.455	1.5	4.4	.339	5.1	7.0	.725
difference:	+2	+4.5	+1.4	+1.3	+2.7	+4.0	+0.1	+1.1	+0.2	-0.4	-1.0	+0.8	+0.7	+.023	+1.3	+3.5	+.069	+1.6	+3.0	+.138
Larry Bird	82	39.5	21.2	2.3	8.6	10.9	5.5	2.0	0.8	3.5	2.9	8.8	18.3	.478	0.2	0.9	.270	3.5	4.0	.863
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	7	37.4	27.0	2.0	6.6	8.6	4.0	1.1	0.6	4.6	2.0	9.7	21.3	.456	2.3	5.7	.400	5.3	7.0	.755
difference:	+10	+6.7	+5.1	+0.9	+4.5	+5.4	+2.1	+1.2	+0.4	-1.0	-1.1	+1.1	+2.9	+.014	+2.1	+5.2	+.025	+0.8	+2.0	+.139
Larry Bird	17	44.1	21.9	2.9	11.1	14.0	6.1	2.3	1.0	3.6	3.1	8.6	18.4	.470	0.2	0.5	.375	4.5	5.0	.894

Season 3
	Paolo Banchero	Larry Bird
Season	2024-25	1981-82
Team	Orlando Magic	Boston Celtics
Honors & Awards	-	All-NBA First Team
	-	All-Defensive Second Team
	-	All-Star Game
	-	All-Star Game MVP
Playoffs	Magic Lost East Conf 1st Rd	Celtics Lost East Conf Finals

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3rd Season Stats Comparison
Regular Season Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	46	34.4	25.9	1.1	6.4	7.5	4.8	0.8	0.6	3.0	2.1	9.0	19.8	.452	1.9	5.9	.320	6.1	8.4	.727
difference:	+31	+3.6	+3.0	+1.5	+1.9	+3.4	+1.0	+1.1	+0.3	-0.3	-1.1	+0.2	+1.4	+.051	+1.8	+5.2	+.108	+1.8	+3.5	+.136
Larry Bird	77	38.0	22.9	2.6	8.3	10.9	5.8	1.9	0.9	3.3	3.2	9.2	18.4	.503	0.1	0.7	.212	4.3	4.9	.863
Playoffs Stats
	G	Min	Pts	ORb	DRb	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF	FGM / A		%	3PM / A		%	FTM / A		%
Paolo Banchero	5	39.4	29.4	2.4	6.0	8.4	4.2	0.6	0.8	3.0	3.6	10.8	24.8	.435	2.4	5.4	.444	5.4	8.2	.659
difference:	+7	+1.4	+11.6	+0.4	+3.8	+4.1	+1.4	+1.3	+0.6	-0.2		+3.5	+7.6	+.008	+2.3	+4.9	+.277	+2.3	+4.4	+.163
Larry Bird	12	40.8	17.8	2.8	9.8	12.5	5.6	1.9	1.4	3.2	3.6	7.3	17.2	.427	0.1	0.5	.167	3.1	3.8	.822

Additional Years
* Larry Bird played 10 seasons more than Paolo Banchero in the NBA. In that period—his seasons 4 to 13, from 1983 to 1992—Larry Bird played in 9 Playoffs and won two NBA Championships. In those 10 extra years over Paolo Banchero, Larry Bird got these achievements:
Honors & Awards	2 Finals MVP 3 Season MVP 6 All-NBA First Team 1 All-NBA Second Team 2 All-Defensive Second Team 9 All-Star Game